France Says It Will Vote in Favor of Palestinians’ U.N. Bid
By Scott Sayare and Christine Hauser
PARIS — France will vote in favor of the Palestinians’ request to heighten their profile at the United Nations, the French foreign minister told Parliament on Tuesday, embracing a move that Israel and the United States oppose.
The support of France, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council,
is the most significant boost to date for the Palestinians’ hopes to be
granted nonmember observer status and thus greater international
recognition. Russia and China, two other permanent members, have also
thrown their support behind the Palestinian bid.
The French support appeared calculated to strengthen the position of the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, whose party governs the West Bank, after clashes with Israel in the Gaza Strip this month that left Hamas, the Islamic militant organization that oversees Gaza, ascendant.
It is also a blow to Israel, whose diplomats have been working
feverishly to try to ensure what they call a “moral majority” in the
United Nations vote, meaning that even if a majority of nations vote in
favor of the Palestinian bid, the major world powers will not.
Speaking before the lower house of Parliament, Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius said, “Next Thursday or Friday, when the question is asked,
France will reply, ‘Yes.’ ”
Muhammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian special envoy for the United Nations
bid, issued a statement from New York saying: “We are very thankful to
France, and we call upon other European governments to announce their
support for Palestinian freedom. This is long overdue.”
The two other permanent members of the Security Council are the United
States and Britain. In a statement last week, the British foreign
secretary, William Hague, said the Palestinian bid jeopardized the
Mideast peace process. “While there is any chance of achieving a return
to talks in the coming months,” he said, “we continue to advise
President Abbas against attempts to win Palestinian observer state
status at the United Nations through a vote in the U.N. General
Assembly. We judge that this would make it harder to secure a return to
negotiations, and could have very serious consequences for the
Palestinian Authority.”
However, The Guardian reported Tuesday,
citing unnamed government sources, that Britain “is prepared to back a
key vote recognizing Palestinian statehood at the United Nations if
Mahmoud Abbas pledges not to pursue Israel for war crimes and to resume
peace talks.”
Ilana Stein, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said Israel
was “not surprised” by the French declaration, adding, “Of course, we
remain in our opinion that this is a very harmful initiative by the
Palestinians; our opinion has not changed.”
Last year, the Palestinians submitted an application to the Security Council
to become a full member state of the United Nations, but the United
States made it clear that it would veto the request.
The draft resolution “reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to
self-determination and to independence in their state of Palestine on
the basis of the pre-1967 borders,” according to a version that
circulated earlier this month. It also expresses “the urgent need for
the resumption and acceleration of negotiations within the Middle East
peace process” and states that the permanent borders of a Palestinian
state are “to be determined in final status negotiations.”
The Palestinians believe that broader recognition of their presence in
the United Nations is a crucial step to a two-state solution with
Israel, given the absence of any other progress. While the Palestinians
are fractured, any vote supporting greater Palestinian status at the
United Nations could help Mr. Abbas, a moderate. The Israelis are
concerned that the Palestinians could use enhanced status to try to join
other international bodies, like the International Criminal Court,
where they could pursue legal claims against Israel.
Israeli officials also say the Palestinians are trying to bypass
negotiations. “This is in stark contrast to their commitment to resolve
issues through negotiations,” said Mark Regev, an Israeli government
spokesman.
Just over a year ago, France voted in favor of full Palestinian membership
in Unesco, despite a mandated cutoff of American money to the
organization. On Tuesday, Mr. Fabius called France’s position a point of
“coherence,” saying, “The constant position of France has been to
recognize the Palestinian state.”
President François Hollande,
who has met with the leaders of both sides, has said France would
support anything that would promote direct talks on a peace settlement.
For that reason, before the latest Gaza clashes, France was reluctant to
vote for Palestinian recognition, in part because the United States and
Israel were so vehemently opposed to it as a sideshow.
But eight days of clashes, which left 160 Palestinians and 6 Israelis
dead, also strengthened Hamas and further weakened Mr. Abbas, the head
of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and French officials clearly
decided to reinforce him. The P.L.O., which does not include Hamas,
remains the sole legal negotiating authority for the Palestinians, and
if there is to be a peace settlement, it is Mr. Abbas and the P.L.O. who
must pursue it.
“The moment when this question will be proposed is a very delicate
moment,” said Mr. Fabius, referring to the timing of the vote, soon
after the recent fighting in the Gaza Strip. “At once because the
cease-fire is extremely fragile, because there are Israeli elections,
because there is a change in the composition of the American
administration.”
Though recognition at the United Nations would be viewed by many as an
implicit recognition of statehood, the “concrete expression of a
Palestinian state” can come only through negotiations “without
conditions” between Palestinians and Israel, Mr. Fabius added.
Husam Zumlot of the Fatah Foreign Relations Commission, which has been
very active in lobbying in Europe in recent months, said, “We hope other
European countries will follow.” He added that he believed that more
than half of the countries of the European Union would vote in favor of
the Palestinians.
Switzerland and Portugal have said they will vote for the measure, but
Germany is among the countries that have opposed the bid, The Associated
Press reported. Australia has said it will abstain, the Australian news
media reported.